Fiction that has affected you

[Flutterbrave]

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

You don't see a lot of books which are not only almost entirely metaphorical, but which include the reader as an intrinsic point of that metaphor.

On the film side of things, I can only point to the greatest film of all time [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS4_Z84-rRE].

 

[loc978]

Metaphorically speaking, my heartstrings tend to require a strong blow from a sledgehammer before they can be considered "plucked"... so I guess I'll just jump on the A Song of Ice and Fire bandwagon.

It's kinda like that old quote by Joss Whedon back when he was making Firefly... the one where he claimed to enjoy making sympathetic characters only to have Mal shoot 'em dead... only George R R Martin makes those characters the protagonist of the moment and has their best friend eviscerate them to stave off death for hundreds of people. Or just because they've gone batshit insane.

 

[doomspore98]

The ending of the departed hit my like a brick to the face. Also I'm gonna say of mice and men as well.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Oh, so many places I could go with this... so I'll diversify a little.

Books:
I love anything written by Brandon Sanderson, but especially Way of Kings, and in terms of emotional impact this one is way up there. The way that it tells the main characters struggles simultaneously with the equally tragic backstory leading up to it, but with a firmly satisfying emotional payoff at the end. (Several, actually) Not to mention a fascinating, intricate world and interesting politics and magic. If you enjoy Game of Thrones, give this book a chance.

Brandon Sanderson is my favourite author currently. Way of kings was excellent and I love Kaladin and Dalinar although I still love the mistborn trilogy more.

Mistborn is certainly a more complete work, and the general consensus seems to be that Allomancy/Feruchemy is the best magic system. (Ever. Legitimately, type "Best Magic System" into Google and try to find an article that doesn't mention it)
But as far as single books go, I think Way of Kings wins handily against any of the Mistborn books.

Mistborn was interesting because of things that allowed for the plot. The theology, the magic, the world itself were all good. By contrast, the great failure of the series is the characters themselves. They were largely flat boring archetypes who played to their archetypes to the end. There only interesting character that remained was hardly sufficient to bear the weight of a few thousand pages.

As far as I'm concerned, the best characters were Kelsier and the Lord Ruler.

 

[darlarosa]

Mass Effect as a series affected me so much emotionally. I'm still upset that my Shep ended up sacrificing so much in the end, but I love the games

Honestly...Xena Warrior Princess. Hell I wrote her as the subject of my college essay and I got in. Xena was beautiful, strong, sexual, and did what was right even if it was wrong. She was my idol growing up.

Battlestar Galactica...this is what made me realize how much I love fiction. It made me realize how distinct and real character can be, and how situations can really affect them without being entirely out of character.

My favorite book "The Face on the Milk Carton" kind of taught me complexity of plot and mystery. Nothing is ever definetively stated and the primary mystery is left unresolved, yet the book is still so fullfilling.

Dirty Pair....the original anime kind of influenced my love of strong female characters. I loved Kai and Yuri to death.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Games-
Persona 3/4: Amazing writing, characters, and endings. Makes me so thankful you can rely on friendship to guide you.

No More Heroes: THIS game, is what inspired me to get into writing, thats right THIS. GAME. The deep symbolism on the subject of, "Why is violence and death so socially accepted, and what monsters it can create" is just brilliant.

Super Mario Sunshine: My first 3D video game. Yup, years later people look down on it but don't realize how colorful and rich of an experience it was. (Same can be said abut Wind Waker, my 3rd 3D video game) I wish people could realize Mario 64 just didn't age well... :/

Books/Comics-
Flowers For Algernon: Cried.

Freak the Mighty: Cried even more.

Marvel comics made by the one and only Stan Lee: My childhood in a nutshell, even when I'm 90 years old I will continue reading these and wonder "How did they make an Avengers movie!? HOOOW?!" *heart attack*

Movies-
Forest Gump, Up, The Avengers, Toy Story 3, Fight Club, The Dark Knight, Scott Pilgrim vs TW, Star Wars 4-6, Lord of the Rings series:
I like masterpieces basically...

TV:
Trigun: I never liked anime, this was a suggestion from my older cousin, I watched all 27 episodes. The outcome... I am now, still, and forever will be a social kind peace loving pacifist.

The Last Airbender: Yeah.

 

[Scrubiii]

Oh, so many places I could go with this... so I'll diversify a little.

Books:
I love anything written by Brandon Sanderson, but especially Way of Kings, and in terms of emotional impact this one is way up there. The way that it tells the main characters struggles simultaneously with the equally tragic backstory leading up to it, but with a firmly satisfying emotional payoff at the end. (Several, actually) Not to mention a fascinating, intricate world and interesting politics and magic. If you enjoy Game of Thrones, give this book a chance.

Brandon Sanderson is my favourite author currently. Way of kings was excellent and I love Kaladin and Dalinar although I still love the mistborn trilogy more.

Mistborn is certainly a more complete work, and the general consensus seems to be that Allomancy/Feruchemy is the best magic system. (Ever. Legitimately, type "Best Magic System" into Google and try to find an article that doesn't mention it)
But as far as single books go, I think Way of Kings wins handily against any of the Mistborn books.

Mistborn was interesting because of things that allowed for the plot. The theology, the magic, the world itself were all good. By contrast, the great failure of the series is the characters themselves. They were largely flat boring archetypes who played to their archetypes to the end. There only interesting character that remained was hardly sufficient to bear the weight of a few thousand pages.

As far as I'm concerned, the best characters were Kelsier and the Lord Ruler.

I'd have to put down the Mistborn trilogy for this thread. The buildup to the final events of The Hero of Ages does an incredible job of instilling a sense of absolute hopelessness.

While I feel like you're being a bit harsh on the characters, especially on Marsh and Breeze, I agree that they certainly don't meet the same standard as the characters in, for example, The Wheel of Time.

 

[el derpenburgo]

I'm only 20 but my mum loved Star Trek since the first movies came out, and had Next Gen DVDs when I was growing up. Since then I watched all of DS9, TOS and a little bit of Voyager... because even though Trek is cool Voyager is just frustratingly terrible. Needless to say I thought Star Trek was the greatest show of all time.

It is probably the reason why I took to studying electrical engineering in university. Because warp cores aren't going to create themselves.

 

[Avalanche91]

Fight Club, learning to hate society and not giving a fuck about smaller things.

Homestuck, learning how trivial life is and how small we are in the grand scheme of things

Avatar; Legend of Aang is just full of life lessons. Decide your own path in life, kindness goes a long way, find peaceful solutions etc.

Toy Story: You know how that one provokes emotional respons.....

Mass Effect 3, raging about the ending.